Box-car construction.



, W. 'E. WILLIAMS.

BOX CAR CONSTRUCTION.

APPLICATION FILED MAY I5, I9I5.

1,175,325. Patented Mar.14,1916.

I z 11 l 1 I 29 I WILLIAM ERASTUS WILLIAMS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

BOX-CAR CONSTRUCTION.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 14, 1916.

Application filed Kay 15, 1915. Serial No. 28,265.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, \VILLIAM ERASTUS IVILLIAMs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and, useful Improvement in Box-Car Construction, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to what are known as the side and end plates and their connections with the roof and the balance of the box body of the car.

The object of my invention is to simplify the construction and make the parts lighter and stronger, cheaper to build and more serviceable and durable in use.

The invention is set forth in the claims.

Reference will be had to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an upper corner of the box of a box car. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a section of the eaves of the car showing the hanging of the door. Fig. 3 is a plan sectional detail of the corner of the car on line 33 of Fig. 4. Fig. is a sectional elevation of the corner of the car looking parallel with the end from the inside of'the car, and shows the connection of the corner post with the end plate and side plate. Fig. 5 is a plan sectional dctail of the roof corner of the car with parts broken away, down to the line 55 of Fig. 6. Fig. 6 is a sectional view through the side plate of the car showing the hanging of the door, and an inside view of the junction of the end plate with the side plate. Fig. 7 is an end view of the end plate. Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the side plate.

The forms for my end and side plates as here shown are made to join a corrugated roof sheet and make such a durable junction with'said roof sheet as to permit the roof sheet when made out of sufficiently heavy weight of metal, to act as the upper framing for the car, and make unnecessary what are known as carlines and purlines, and. thereby make the roof sheet the sustaining structure for itself.

My invention also contemplates the use of steel posts and diagonals for the framing of the side and end walls of the car, yet wooden members may be used with those parts.

. I show in the drawings what is known as an inside single sheathed car, but other designs may be used with my invention.

In the drawing 1 indicates the inside single wooden sheathing for the car and 2 the corresponding sheathing for the ends, 3 in dicates the door, 4 indicates the vertical metal corner post here shown as being an ordinary angle, 5 indicates a vertical end post of metal here shown as being a Z bar in form but may be any other suitable form, and 6 indicates my end plate which is here shown as a 2 bar section'but may be modifled to suit the requirements of the posts as relates to its lower flanges.

7 indicates my side plate which is here shown as having a vertical flange 8, a horizontal flange 9, a vertical flange 10 and a fluted or corrugated roof flange 11.

12 indicates the roof which is made of corrugated roof sheets extending crosswise of the car, arched in form and extending from side plate to side plate.

My roof sheet is designed primarily to have such large corrugations that are of such depth and distance apart as to develop a moment of resistance against bending crosswise of the corrugations suflicient to equal for the length of the car, a total moment of resistance of the carlines ordinarily used to support the roof. The corrugated or fluted flange 11 of the side plate, matches the corrugations of the roof sheet and the flange 11 is wide enough to underlie the roof sheet a considerable distance, sufficient to permit a secure fastening of the roof sheet to the corrugated flange of the side plate.

On the top of the summits of the ends of the corrugations of the roof sheet, there are fastened binding clips 13 which are riveted by rivets l-LL through the roof sheet and through the summits of the corrugations of the flange 11 ot' the side plate. The clips 13 have an end extending vertically as indicated by 32, which are riveted directly to the vertical flange 8 of the side plate by the rivets 15. The clamping clips 13 embrace the summit ends of the corrugations of the roof sheets giving a relatively wide area of contact whereby the ends of the roof sheets are secured to the side plates with suflicient strength by the clip fastenings to equal the bending moment of resistance in the central body portion of the roof sheet. Any torsional or weaving movement of the upper part of the car will be resisted by the clip fastenings and absorbed by the spring of the roof sheet, the large size of the corrugations making it possible for the sheet to accommodate itself to any distortion of the car body, below the point of permanent set or rupture, and even such strain of these parts aswould destroy ordinary structures will cause here no injury.

The vertical flange 8 of my side plate 7 furnishes a very stiff member to resist any bending moments in vertical lines. \Vhile the flange 11 is corrugated or fluted, yet this fluting does not so weaken this flange that it is not still a very stiff member and in conjunction with the flange t4 composes a side plate. structure in. itself sufliciently strong for the ordinary functions that a side plate may be called upon to bear when the parts are made out of the normal sections of metal desirable to be used for such purposes. However. I prefer to reinforce the strength of my side plate as represented by the corrugated or fluted flange 11 and the plain vertical flange 8, with a horizontal flange 9 and I extend this flange wider than the widths of the ordinary vertical and inclined posts 16 (see Fig. 6) and make it wide enough so that it always becomes the rail for the door rollers to ride upon, the door being embraced on its top edge by the flange 10 of the side plate.

17 indicates the door hanger. and 18 the roller for the door.

The weight of section of metal that ordinarily used for side plates in the forms of angles, channels and 2 bars. may not be greater when formed in the form of my side plate 7 as shown, the thickness of the metal of the flange portions will be slightly thinner, but the totalmoment of resistance in any direction owing to the shape of my side plate. will be as great as is the other forms. The other forms all require a special rail with some sort of fabrication to carry the door, but with my design, the side plate itself provides for this. Further in some styles of cars. double sets of doors are used, such as vegetable and fruit cars. and some other sorts of convertible cars, and they require an extra length of door rail special for the door as heretofore used. But with my design no such provision is necessary and that weight and cost is saved through my invention.

I prefer to make the end plate 6 of metal in the form shown by Fig. 7 where 6 is the vertical flange or body. 19 curved top flange. and 20 the horizontal lower flange. The flange 19 is curved to fitthe corrugations of the roof sheet and the end posts 5 are secured underneath the horizontal flange "20. The end plate may be of suflicient thickness of metal as not to require the flange 20, or the flange 20 may be an inturned flange on the same side as the flange 19, making as it were, a sort of channel out of the end plate. But I prefer'to use the outside flange 20.

Where the end plate joins the side plate at the corner of the car, I prefer to cut away the flanges S and 11 of the side plate as is indicated by 21 and 22:2 of Fig. 8, and I join these at the corner with an angle block 23 the lower flange of which is riveted by rivets 33 to one flange of the corner post and the upper flange is riveted by the rivets 24 to the flange 20 of the end plate. This angle block 23 extends across the flange 9 of the side plate and is fastened thereto by rivets 25. At the other flange of the post l which extends on the side wall of the car there is an angle block 26 connected to the posts by rivets :27 and connected to the flange 9 of the side plate by rivets 28. ()n the inside of the car there is a small angle block 2.) connected by a rivet 30 to the flange 8 of the side plate and by a rivet 31 to the flange 6 of the end plate. thus the three angle plates 21' 26 and 2%) make a secure joint of the angle post and the side and end plates and form a very firm corner for the car and a cheap one to construct.

In place of the mall angle :29 I may make my end plate longer and then lop off the top flange 19 and bottom flange 20 and part of the vertical flange (3 at the ends and turn these protruding pieces around to form what now corresponds to one leg of the angle 29. Then I may cut the flange 8 of the side plate. loose from the flange 9 at the location of the notched portion 21 and bend this piece around at a right angle. and thus form what corresponds to the other leg of the angle block 29. Then by the rivets 30 and I would arrive at substantially the same construction which I do arrive at by the insertion of the small angle block 29, uniting flanges C and 8 by extensions of themselves instead of through the. medium of the angle piece 29.

By my construction the corner posts l and the sides and end plate are rigidly secured together by means which involve no castings or special forged parts. The angle blocks are. obtained by simply shearing ofl standard sections. all of which features are desideratums in car manufacture.

The side plate having a corrugated or fluted edge adapted to join the roof sheet direct, means quite a saving in cost and furnishes the best possible sort of a connection with the roof sheet.

The arrangement of the side plate with its flanges as described, is such that the side plate itself overlaps the outside framing or outside wall of the car sides, forming as it were, a part of the shedding surface for the roof-an area ordinarily covered by the roof sheets themselves. Thus this makes a saving in the length of the roof sheet. which is quite an item of cost as relates to the cost of the roof itself.

What I claim is:

1. The combination with the body of a. car

wall, of a side plate having a vertical web secured to and extending upward from that body and provided at its upper side with an integral laterally projecting corrugated flange having an inclination approximately that of an ordinary car roof.

:2. The combination with the body of a car angle usually made by a car roof and the car wall.

4. The combination with the body of a box car, of side plates secured thereto and each having a vertical web with a sinuous upper margin and each provided with a planehorizontal flange projecting at the lower side of the web and with a corrugated flange projecting from the upperside of the web at approximately the angle usually made by a carroof and the car walls, and end plates connected to the side plates and each having'a vertical web with its upper side in line with said corrugated flanges and provided with a lateral flange curved to correspond with the corrugations of the corrugated flanges.

5. The combination with the end Wall of a box car, f an end plate secured to said wall and having a vertical web provided with an integral plane horizontal flange at its lower side, and with a curved integral lateral flange at its upper side adapting it to receive a correspondingly curved roof member.

6. In a. box car, the combination with an angle iron corner post, of side and end plate members each having a vertical web with a roof receiving flange at its upper margin and at its lower margin an external horizontal flange in the plane of the correspondmg flange of the other member, one of said horizontal flanges extending alongside the margin of the other, and an angle iron be low having its horizontal flange overlappmg and rigidly fixed to both said horizontal flanges at pointsapproximately in the same straight line and its vertical flange rigidly fixed to the post.

7. In a box car, the combination with an angle iron corner post, of side and end plate members each having a vertical web with a roof receiving flange at its upper margin and at its lower margin an external horizontal flange in the plane of the correspond ing flange of the other member, an angle iron below having its horizontal flange overlapping and rigidlyv fixed to the horizontal flanges of both said members and its vertical flange fixed to the post, a second angle iron rigidly fixed to the other face of the post and tothe. corresponding one of said horizontal flanges, and an angle iron rigidly fixed to the internal faces of the vertical flanges of both saidmembers.

Signed in Chicago, in the State of Illinois, and county of Cook this 5th day of May 1915.

WILLIAM ERASTUS WILLIAMS.

Witnesses:

EUGENE S. Coorna, HENNING A. FoRsBERe. 

